Digicel ad-blocker ‘to help force advertising shift’

Digicel’s move to block ads on customers’ phones across its entire network is part of a wider shift that will become more pronounced in the coming months and force a fundamental change in advertising, according to a leading expert.

The Caribbean mobile operator owned by Denis O’Brien became the first network to employ ad-blocking software as standard on its network, a move that follows Apple’s roll-out of an ad-blocker option with its latest software update.

The moves signal a major shift in a “tacit agreement” that has existed online between users, publishers, and advertisers since the beginning of the internet, according to Digital Marketing Institute co-founder Ian Dodson.